This was a new one for me. It started with this find that popped up on my feed:
SFWHITE GODWINS REPOSTED
H/T Re5iGam
The Cicadas that have been burrowed underground for 17 years sucking on moisture from tree roots will be coming out from dark to light.
Set to start mid April and peak in June
H/T Frogman
Research Cicada 3301.
It’s all connected.
One last “F you” to the C_A.
If you already know, then you know.
Naturally I wanted to know more. Here’s what I learned:
“Cicada 3301 is a nickname given to an organization that, on three occasions, has posted a set of puzzles to recruit codebreakers from the public.[1] The first internet puzzle started on January 4, 2012, on 4chan and ran for nearly a month. A second round began one year later on January 4, 2013, and then a third round following the confirmation of a fresh clue posted on Twitter on January 4, 2014.[2][3] The third puzzle has yet to be solved. The stated intent was to recruit “intelligent individuals” by presenting a series of puzzles which were to be solved. No new puzzles were published on January 4, 2015. However, a new clue was posted on Twitter on January 5, 2016.[4][5] In April 2017, a verified PGP-signed message was found.[6] It explicitly denies the validity of any unsigned puzzle. A verified puzzle has not been posted since.
The puzzles focused heavily on data security, cryptography, steganography, and internet anonymity.[1][7][8][9][10]
It has been called “the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age”[11] and is listed as one of the “top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the internet”,[12] and much speculation exists as to its function. Many have speculated that the puzzles are a recruitment tool for the NSA, CIA, MI6, a “Masonic conspiracy“[13] or a cyber mercenary group.[1][8] Others have claimed Cicada 3301 is an alternate reality game. However, no company or individual has attempted to monetize it.[11] Dark Web: Cicada 3301, a film inspired by the organization, was released in 2021.”
Interesting, right? There’s more:
“The United States Navy released a cryptographic challenge based on the Cicada 3301 recruitment puzzles in 2014 calling it Project Architeuthis.[26][27]
The plot of “Nautilus”, the September 30, 2014 episode of the TV show Person of Interest, featured a large-scale game very similar to the Cicada 3301 puzzles. Both feature a series of worldwide cryptographic puzzles, but as the title implies, these feature the image of a nautilus shell instead of a cicada logo.[28] Person of Interest creator Jonathan Nolan and producer Greg Plageman stated in an interview that Cicada 3301 was the inspiration for the episode: “Episode 2, I’m particularly fascinated by the subject underneath it. Look up Cicada 3301 on the internet. It’s a very interesting concept out there that we then put into a larger story that connects to our show.”[29]
The organization is the subject of the comedy-thriller film Dark Web: Cicada 3301, which was announced in 2018.[30] Directed by Alan Ritchson, who co-wrote the script with Joshua Montcalm, it stars Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, Kris Holden-Ried, Andreas Apergis, and Ritchson. The film was acquired by Lionsgate in 2020,[31] who released the film digitally on March 12, 2021.[32][33] “
And saving the best for last:
Cicada 3301 is mentioned in the 5th episode “Game Over” of Q Into the Storm.
The movie mentioned above sounds dark. Enough said. See eye aye.
